Jack Black

Actor / Rock Musician

Born: 28 August 1969

Birthplace: Hermosa Beach, California

Best known as:

The wild-eyed star of School of Rock

Jack Black is the wild-eyed, manic star of the hit comedy School of Rock (2003, directed by Richard Linklater), and half of the comedy-rock duo Tenacious D. He started in the movies in the early 1990s with small but memorable parts in movies, including Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! (1996) and Enemy of the State (1998, with Will Smith). Tenacious D earned a national audience by way of a short-lived cable TV show by 2000, and Black's film career was taking off. In a supporting role, he stole the show in High Fidelity (2000, starring John Cusack) and was next getting lead roles in comedies, including Shallow Hal (2001, with Gwyneth Paltrow) and Orange County (2002). He voiced Lenny in the animated feature Shark Tale (2004) and won the lead role of Carl Denham in Peter Jackson's King Kong (2005, with Adrien Brody). He then went back to comedy, appearing in Nacho Libre (2006), The Holiday (2006, opposite Kate Winslet), Be Kind Rewind (2008, co-starring Mos Def) and Gulliver's Travels (2011, with Amanda Peet).

Extra credit:

Jack Black was also the star of Heat Vision and Jack (1999, with the voice of Owen Wilson), a tongue-in-cheek TV series directed by Ben Stiller that was made for Fox television but never broadcast... In March of 2006 it was reported that Black married musician Tanya Haden, a daughter of jazz bassist Charlie Haden.